JESSICA BELLEF

Music by Gato Fofo “In This World”

JESSICA BELLEF

WRITER

Bundeena, Australia

When I feel stuck creatively I launch myself into a public challenge. I use Instagram as an accountability tool, otherwise after three days I’d crawl up into a ball and let the cool idea die in the egg... In 2019 I felt that I had in a server full of little films I had shot and not edited. The people in the films were waiting. I felt only shame and pain thinking about it. The bottleneck was my fear of editing. I felt incapable of it. So I launch my 30 day 30 films challenge. One film edited every day for thirty days. Miraculous. I first edited all the lagging films. No time to reflect on how imperfect they were. It only had to be ready in a day. When that was done, there were many days left to show up to so I reached out to creatives around me. I had my eyes on Jessica Bellef who had just written an incredibly beautiful book called Individual. Read More

Photos I took that day…

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Individual pushes the doors of 15 quirky Australian homes which are the reflect of their owners’ personality. Jessica is showing us that the nest we create for ourself is a representation of our soul. I loved that idea very much. I reached out to her and she very generously opened the doors of her house in leafy Maianbar to my bags of gear.

Jessica’s house is a mid-century modern Australian brick and dark wood home she preserved, or more accurately, celebrated by keeping everything the way its architect dreamed it. The kitchen is a yellow paradise of formica with a copper hood over a stove that’s a model of the genre. The bathroom has flowery tiles and lace curtains. Bedrooms are warm and cosy. All over colours are rich, objects, artworks and furniture are mostly sourced from second hand shops. It doesn’t look like a museum or a blast from the past, it’s colourful, joyous and very much lived in.

In this beautiful nest, Jessica lives with her husband Beau and her side-kick Charlie Barkley, a scruffy canine “person” (I decided to call him that after looking deep into his bright eyes) who she rescued from a shelter.

Because I'm right in the middle of another 30 day challenge which hopefully will pull me out of my post-film school creative deflation, I reached out to Jessica to ask her if she would reply to my interview and be part of 30 people who make the world more beautiful. She said yes and I loved getting to know her better and sharing her kind, nuturing and beauty seeking approach to our homes and to life.

Connect with Jessica

@jessicabellef | jessicabellef.com | Bon Public Newsletter

INTERVIEW

Bellef is completely made up. When my dad and his family immigrated to Australia from Macedonia in the late 60s, they decided to ‘Australianise’ a family name. I’m pretty sure we are the only Bellefs in the world.
I was born in Wollongong, south of Sydney. I moved to Redfern after uni, into the guts of Sydney, and lived there for ten years. When that got tiring, I headed back south and made the Royal National Park my home. Specifically, a little hamlet called Maianbar on beautiful Dharawal land.
English. Sadly, no other languages. I only know a few Macedonian (swear) words. I know- it’s shameful.
I produce stories and content for magazines, brands and creatives. I write and style and am excited to add photography to the mix. I am, in fact, obsessed with photography.
I also produce a monthly newsletter called BON PUBLIC. In each send, I list the media I’ve been consuming and the things I’ve been loving, from books and mags to shows and movies, podcasts, exhibitions, articles, stupid memes -whatever! It’s presented in easy-to-digest recommendation snippets, and each month I also feature a BON PERSON - a guest who shares their picks. It’s a bit of fun and free to sign up via Substack.
I can’t pick one artwork or even one artist! I constantly (and subconsciously) search for inspiration and somehow internalise it, regardless of the medium or communication channel.
BUT hard pressed to answer, I will say the colours and rhythms of abstract pieces by Sonia Delaunay and Kandinsky will always inspire joy.
The urge to create has been with me forever - I have a vivid memory of me as a toddler drawing on white carpet with a fat blue texta, thinking I was beautifying the room. Mum didn’t think so.
In high school, I wanted to work in magazines but had no concept of what that meant or how to get there (thanks for the help, careers counsellor!). I detoured to study psychology and marketing at university and came back to the creative realm via retail, which led to editorial work.
I’m a very non-extravagant person.
I was getting my nails and hair done regularly there for a while but gave up on that. LOL.
I do luxuriate with books and magazines often. Does that count as an extravagance?
Take photos!
My book Individual was published in 2019, and that project cemented my love of telling stories about how people live and create.
I don’t know if it changed anything, but it confirmed I was on the right path. The older I get, the more I believe that big gestures and flashy spotlight moments don’t mean much- the little decisions you make daily steer your ship. I stick to my intuition and aim for long-term gains.
Self-doubt? Still working on that one!
There was the time my original publisher shut down, and my book contract for Individual got pulled months before my deadline. Gulp. I spent 8 months pitching the content to publishers, and that was a heartbreaking SLOG but I was determined to bring the book to life. I eventually secured a new publisher and signed a new contract on Christmas Eve, 2018. The book was finally birthed, and I am proud of it for myriad reasons.
Sprezzatura. An Italian word that means studied nonchalance. Effortlessness or ease. Graceful conduct or performance without apparent effort. I like it because the word’s look and sound reflect its meaning - it’s so bloody cool.
Honesty, always.
The ability to have a laugh.
Kindness. Please don’t be a jerk.
Ashtrays. I don’t smoke, but there are incredible ashtray designs to be found at op shops and junk stores. I have lots of elegant cut crystal styles, which evoke a bygone era of fabulousness.
Denim jeans. I own over 30 pairs of jeans in varying degrees of dishevelment. I love heavy, worn-in denim.
I have my Grandmother's and Baba’s jewellery and letters from loved ones I will cherish forever, but beyond these, I try not to get attached to objects.
I love collecting and can appreciate an amazing piece, but stuff weighs you down! We don’t really need it.
Ramen. Pho. Asian soups make me SO happy.
(Don’t mind me, I’m just channelling my inner Anthony Bourdain over here.)
Olive Cotton: A Life in Photography by Helen Ennis.
It’s a beautiful biography about a pioneering photographer who emerged in 1930s Australia. The book puts Olive’s life in the context of a changing society, so it’s also an interesting read on our nation's modern history.
I just watched Squid Game, a million years after everyone else watched it during the Covid lockdowns. It was fine.
20th Century Women (2017).
Directed by Mike Mills and set in Southern California in 1979, it has this rich, bohemian feel to it. Set design and art direction rates highly for me when I watch movies - I can forgive terrible dialogue if my eyes are pleased - and this film doesn’t disappoint in any department. It’s a beautiful story about a single mum and the eclectic characters that form her ‘village’. And the soundtrack is magnificent (also an essential aspect of movie critique for me).
All of it! My husband is an audio engineer, and we always have a mix of music playing at home. Currently on rotation are IDLES, The Mystery Lights, and Dire Straits.
And Bonobo, always. It’s my writing soundtrack.
The writer David Sedaris is masterful in his storytelling and ability to balance brilliant humour and darkness. And Saul Leiter is an iconic photographer I look up to. His street photography from Manhattan in the early mid-century is sublime.
I just wrote a magazine article about emerging Australian artists, and the young Queensland painter Mitchell Cheesman stuck out with his lush impasto paintings of abstract still-life settings.
New York for a spell. And then Copenhagen. And then I’d hermit-out in the Faroe Islands. And then I’d return to the Aussie bush and beach because I’m pretty lucky to live where I do.
Book number 2 is just starting to bubble up. It’s been a long time coming, but the idea has bounced around in my head long enough for me to take it seriously. I am taking up an artist residency in early 2024 down near Bermagui (on the Sapphire Coast), where I will dedicate all my brain power to mapping out the book beast. This one is going to take some time- I haven’t even secured a book deal - but like book number 1, I believe it’s worth fighting for!
Yes! Definitely. But I must first find my voice within the concept… watch this space!